Fire in Pointe Claire

May 22, 1900

The following account of a major fire in Pointe Claire was written by
George E.R. Milne and can be found on page 24 of Recollections of Early
Pointe Claire published in 1965 by the West Island School Commission,
Pointe Claire, Quebec.

Early in the morning of May 22nd, 1900, fire broke out and destroyed about
twenty buildings from Belair's tinsmith shop to west through the hotel,
Mayer's store, to and including the Charlebois store, and east from
Duscheneau's store to the carpenter Mitchell's home. The only water
supply was from village wells or carried in buckets from the river. A
small two wheeled hose reel and hand pump was the only village fire
protection the Chaboillez Square fire station of the Montreal Fire
Department loaded a heavy steam fire engine and a hose wagon on flat
cars at Bonaventure station and they unloaded at Pointe Claire station
about 7:00 A.M. Instead of coming all the way to the village by the
macadamized Station Road, someone directed the fire-engine to turn west
off the hard road and go through the south end of the present Golf Club
property to get at the fire from the west end of the village, but the
engine bodded down in low and soft ground about 100 yards north of the
Lakeshore Road, and its four horses could not move it out. Fortunately,
by that time, the fire had pretty well burned out and no new buildings
were taking fire. On the way with the horse and express wagon to deliver
milk in Beaconsfield, I arrived at the corner of the Station Road at about
7:00 A.M. and, as the Lakeshore Road, the only way through the village,
was completely blocked with the remains of the still burning and
smouldering buildings, I tied the horse near the toll-gate and walked west
around the ruins, and the bogged down fire-engine. No milk delivery was
made until the following morning.